Farewell to Bill Gates

Billionaire Bill Gates logs off today after 33 years in day-to-day control of the world’s biggest software company — Microsoft Corp.

Mr. Gates will remain part-time chairman of the board. Gates expected to deliver a valedictory address to the software company’s 90,000 employees with his right-hand man, Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer, by his side. Staff around the world will watch via a webcast.

In 1981 the company launched MS-DOS, its first commercial software, which was licensed to IDM. It was followed four years later by Windows, which Gates allowed PC makers to pre-install on PCs, creating a ready-made market for the software.